Time for a fresh start

What we feared the most has happened. The army has taken over and a
democratically elected government has been dismissed. Pakistan appears
to be on a verge of reverting back to the vicious cycle of military
dictatorships it had slowly clawed its way out of.

Let us be frank, Nawaz Sharif was no angel. His heavy handed tactics
for converting Pakistan into his personal fiefdom were all too
obvious. There is no institution in the country that Sharif did not
try to influence or fill with his yes-men. The meteoric rise of his
family's fortunes on the back of the Pakistani treasury is all too
well-known.

Still, the meddling of the military into civilian and political
affairs is a sure recipe for disaster. While Sharif could avoid
accountability by stacking his cronies in every nook and corner of the
government, the military is inherently unaccountable. Therefore, if
the tragic circumstance of military intervention into civilian affairs
does arise, that intervention should be as minimal as possible with a
quick return to civilian rule.

Pakistan, unfortunately, stands divided between two unacceptable
evils, military rule or the return to power of the same corrupt
faces. Before Sharif, Benazir Bhutto and her husband glorified
themselves as possibly being the most corrupt couple ever to grace an
elected government. This sad pendulum of Pakistani politics that seems
to sway only between Sharif and Benazir has bankrupted the country and
brought it to a brink of complete ruin. It is high time to find a
permanent way out of this trap. Military intervention is not
desirable, but there is a silver lining to this cloud. Given
sufficient will and foresight, Pakistan may be able to correct some of
its chronic ills.

The first thing to do is to find a way back to civilian rule through a
care-taker government. This time around, the care-taker government
should be given enough time to bring in sweeping reforms in the
Pakistani political landscape. A period of two years sounds good. As
soon as the care-taker government is in power, it should move to
permamently disbar Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto and all of their
cronies from ever participating in Pakistani politics or holding
office again. These people have already done enough "service" for
their country and it is high time that they be kept as far away from
power as possible.

The process of accountability is very difficult and painful, but here
I feel that we have something to learn from what is happening in South
Africa regarding investigations into the practices of the apartheid
era. One can always launch a complete and thorough investigation of
the corruption of Sharif and Benazir, and lock them away to rot in
jails for their deeds, but I think that will only make martyrs of
villians. Instead, their corruption should be widely publicized to
ensure that they are known for the thieves they are but they should
also be pardoned and not criminally prosecuted on the condition that they will
never participate in politics again. The possibility of not facing
extended prison sentences may also make it easy for Sharif and Benazir
to accept the deal they are being offered. Revenge breeds revenge, and
we should be willing to overlook now (but not forget) so that we can
have a better selection of leadership in the future.

With the backing of the military, the care-taker government can bring
in long-term reforms so desperately needed: constitutional reform,
parliamentary reform, judicial reform, foreign policy reform, land
reform, taxation reform, educational reform, human rights reform and
social welfare reform. This is also the time to open the way for
imaginative and young leaders who understand the issues relevent to
today's world, are equipped to deal with them and have a futuristic
and socially beneficial vision for Pakistan.

All of this may sound very idealistic, however, it is only in
exceptional circumstances that exceptional changes can occur. Post
World War II Japan under occupation by Douglas MacArthur's forces was
able to bring in revolutionary land and social reforms that ended
Japan's last link to its medieval era and brought it quickly into the
rank of modern states. Pakistan too may have to swallow this bitter
pill of reform to ensure a brighter future for itself.